When Northwoods Outfitters brought on a second location, their onboarding routine lived in a shared document that different managers interpreted differently. Priya, their operations lead, moved it into the Process module as a published SOP — after that, every new hire ran the same procedure, step by step, with nothing skipped.
Here's how to do the same.
Before you start
Make sure the Process module is enabled. Most industries have it switched on during setup; if it isn't in the sidebar, go to Settings → Modules, find Process in the list, and flip its switch on. Only workspace admins and owners can enable modules.
Once enabled, the Process section appears in the sidebar with Library, Runs, and Adherence Report sub-sections.
Creating and editing processes and steps needs process.processes.manage and process.steps.manage, which owners, admins, advisors, and contributors hold by default. Publishing needs process.processes.publish (owner, admin, and advisor), and creating categories needs process.categories.manage (the same three roles). If your industry has process templates, the New process dialog shows a Start from field (default Blank process) that previews a template's steps and copies them into your new process — handy for a first SOP.
Step 1: Create a category (optional)
Categories group related processes in the library. If this is your first SOP, create a category first — you can skip this step and assign a category later.
In the library header, click New category and give it a name. Northwoods Outfitters uses "Onboarding", "Safety", and "Quality Control" as their top-level categories.
A category cannot be deleted while it has processes assigned to it.
Step 2: Create the process
Click New process in the library header. A dialog opens with these fields:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Start from | No | Appears when process templates exist for your industry; pick one to prefill the form and steps, or leave it on Blank process. |
| Title | Yes | 1–500 characters. Be specific: "New hire equipment check" is better than "Onboarding". |
| Description | No | A short summary of scope and when to use this procedure. |
| Scope | No | General (the default) or Call script. |
| Category | No | Select from existing categories. |
| Owner | No | The person accountable for keeping the SOP current. |
| Review date | No | A date when this SOP should be re-evaluated. The library highlights overdue active processes with a red dot. |
Click Create process. You're taken to the new process's detail page. The process starts with status Draft and version 1.
You can change the title, description, scope, category, owner, and review cadence later with Edit details on the process page.
Step 3: Add steps
On the process detail page, click Edit steps (visible to people who can manage steps). This opens a deferred-save editor — every change is held locally until you click Done. If you click Cancel, all pending changes are discarded without saving anything.
For each step, fill in:
- Title (required) — describe what the operator must do. Bayou & Co. writes step titles as imperative sentences: "Verify equipment serial numbers match the manifest."
- Description (optional) — additional context or instructions. Supports rich text formatting.
- Est. minutes (optional) — an integer estimate. The Runs list uses this to flag stalled runs: a run is marked Stalled when elapsed time exceeds twice the estimated duration of any incomplete step.
- Assignee (optional) — choose a specific person, or switch to Seat and pick a People-module seat from the list. For a seat, the system resolves the seat's current primary assignment at run-start and assigns the step to that person. Leave it blank to leave the step unassigned.
Adding required fields
Required fields force the operator to capture specific information before they can mark a step complete. Inside the step editor, click Add field to create one:
- Label — the prompt the operator sees (e.g., "Serial number", "Inspector signature").
- Kind — choose from four types:
- Text — a typed text response.
- Photo — the operator uploads one or more images at run time.
- Signature — the operator draws a signature on a canvas at run time.
- Attachment — the operator uploads a single file (PDF, document, or image).
- Required checkbox — if checked, the field must be filled before the Complete step button becomes active.
A step can have a mix of required and optional fields.
Reordering steps
Use the ↑ and ↓ buttons to change the order of steps within the editor. Order is saved when you click Done. Every add, edit, delete, or reorder increments the process version number — batch your changes in a single edit session to avoid unnecessary version churn.
Step 4: Publish the process
Once your steps are in place, click Publish (or Submit for approval — see note below). The API requires at least one step; the Publish button is disabled on a zero-step process.
Publishing moves the process from Draft to Active. An active process is runnable by any contributor, advisor, admin, or owner (viewers cannot start a run).
If you've set required approvers on this process, the Publish button is replaced by Submit for approval. The process goes to Pending approval and cannot be run until the designated approvers have approved it. See How to set up an approval workflow for details.
What comes next
With an active process in your library, any contributor, advisor, admin, or owner can click Start run to begin executing it. See How to run an SOP as a checklist to walk through a run from start to finish.
If you need to run this process automatically on a repeating schedule, see How to schedule recurring runs.